One of the original So-Cal hot rodders.

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EI: When I was about 13 or 14 years old, my uncle gave me a Model T truck and we’d go driving around the block. Then we got a roadster after that—more or less a junky little lightweight car.

C/D: What was your first modification to a car?

EI: George Riley built a two-spark-plug head [for the Model T] and a slot-port manifold that let you bore out the ports really big. Winfield updraft carburetor down below. Most of the experienced guys were into the B-Fords or the flathead V-8s, but we were sticking with the Model T fours and we could buy overhead-valve cylinder heads cheap, sometimes five or ten dollars, and we’d have an overhead-valve engine. Then, pretty soon after we’d broken the crankshaft and stuff like that, we jumped into the wrecking yard and got a 1936 Ford V-8. So we put that V-8 engine in the Model T, and I think I went 96 mph with that [at Muroc Dry Lake].

C/D: That must have been scary.

EI: We didn’t have roll bars or safety belts in those days. Just a helmet and goggles, and the goggles were from World War I.

C/D: How did you wind up grinding cams?

EI: When [the U.S.] started building airplanes for England in California, we found we could get jobs as apprentices in machine shops or tool-and-die shops. So we started to earn a little money. When I saved up a little, I bought a camshaft for my Ford V-8. I went to Ed Winfield, who became like a mentor to me. He invited me into his shop to see the cam grinder he had built. I was fascinated by it. Then, when we went into the Army Air Corps, all the hot rodders earned a lot more if they were involved in mechanics and airplane repair and stuff. So when I came out of the Army in 1946, I decided to build my own cam-grinding attachment. And I started making my own cams. I got an ad in Hot Rod magazine—a $10 two-inch ad—and got a call from some NASCAR guys in North Carolina. And they ordered two cams by airmail and loved them because they had a lot of torque in the midrange and top end. It was noisy, but it made good power.

C/D: You were one of the first to put your logo on a T-shirt?

EI: Yeah. The first Bonneville [Speed Week] was in 1949, if I remember right. Norm Lean and Doug Harrison had a [Ford Model A] V-8 roadster, and I gave them $100 sponsorship money for gas to go all the way to Bonneville and back. Norm says, “We want to dress up our little crew a bit.” So they came back with a T-shirt with my little decal, which is about four inches in diameter. I says, “Gee, where did you get this made?” And he said, “We had them made up in Hollywood. Silk-screened.” I said, “Well give me the address of that place, and I’ll have ’em made up bigger.” So we started making those T-shirts. We’d sell half of them and give half away to the guys running our cams. Some people think we invented advertising on T-shirts. That might be true.

EI: No. I remember they sent [Vic] Edelbrock a small-block. He would make an intake manifold for it and port the heads, and he’d invite the cam grinders to submit one. And he liked my cam.

1955 Turbo-Fire V-8

C/D: Did you still have hot rods after the company got going?

EI: I didn’t have time to play with hot rods anymore. I kept my original hot rod. It’s in the Wally Parks NHRA Museum in Pomona. I had to concentrate on business. I usually drive old Cadillacs. I’m not interested in speed much anymore.

C/D: As someone who has always supplied the racing industry, is there one form of racing that you’ve liked best?

EI: I guess Bonneville and drag racing. NASCAR? I only like that when some little tricky thing happens at the end of the race.

C/D: Are your three sons into cars?

EI: Yeah, they’re all in the business here. That worked out nice.

C/D: How about your grandkids?

EI: Oh, I’ve lost track. I must have four or five.

2015 Chevrolet Corvette Z06 supercharged 6.2-liter V-8 engine

C/D: Do you still get excited about new engines?

EI: Oh yeah. The latest thing would be that new that new Corvette engine. I still like the rocker-arm engines. I think that’s the practical way to go, even for passenger cars. The four-valve, dual-overhead-cam engines are too complex and hard to work on. We’re getting great efficiency with all the electronics now.